by Geri Krotow
Jena stood, and he caught a glimpse of her inside upper thigh, the creamy flash against her pink towel the definition of temptation. Anticipation swirled in his gut, and his cock abandoned his silent do-not-get-hard order. The sun blazed, but the water gave respite from the heat.
Jena picked up her dress and turned to face him. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, do you? I mean, you’re this close to going to Atlanta, starting your new life. Why complicate it? We’ve said what we needed to say.”
He watched her, unable to speak.
“I’m going to head back. Enjoy yourself as long as you’d like, of course. I’ll be at the hospital until the baby comes if you need me. Otherwise, I’ll see you at work tomorrow morning.” She padded out of the pool area and disappeared into the veranda, where he assumed she’d get dressed.
She’d left him with sexual frustration to add to his dehydration woes. He swam into the deep end, stopping under the mini waterfall. He’d hoped that the pounding water would massage his shoulder and neck muscles—but getting rid of his desire for Jena was too tall an order for hydrotherapy.
She didn’t come back, not that he’d expected her to. As he lay on the warm chaise to air dry his briefs, he went over their poolside conversation. They’d been facing front, not looking at one another. Not touching. Yet this afternoon had been one of their most intimate times ever.
Chapter 9
Jena tried not to go over the pool conversation with Jeb as she drove back to New Orleans, but, like a favorite song she couldn’t get out of her mind, all she heard was his voice.
The bridge across Lake Pontchartrain seemed endless; the blue water that normally soothed her only made her check the clock again and again. She’d be at the hospital within the next twenty minutes, where, according to Gloria, Sonja still hadn’t had the baby.
A brown pelican skimmed over the bridge, appeared to hang motionless for split second, then dove into the lake, reappearing seconds later with a huge fish flopping in its pouched beak.
Like the bird, she didn’t have a problem committing to the necessities of life. She knew that undercover work wasn’t her lifelong ambition and had jumped into The Refuge project with enthusiasm. Her personal life was another matter. She and Jeb had moved on, had to. And she’d find someone else, according to statistics.
But she’d never fallen into a clear demographic, never been average. Neither had her relationship with Jeb.
* * * *
Jeb took his time drying off in the shade of the veranda, still half hoping that Jena would walk around the corner of the house and tell him that she hadn’t been able to stay away.
The Boudreauxes’ new house in Baton Rouge was incredibly nice, but it was nothing like the rambling old place they’d grown up in. He was prejudiced, since he had so many great memories there. Running around the property with Brandon and Henry, until Henry started to notice girls and GI Joe didn’t hold his interest. Jena, a quintessential tomboy, never left Brandon’s side—that evolved into Jeb’s side as the years went by.
He shoved on his cargo shorts, free-birding it, as his underwear could only get so dry in the humid air. As much as he was a part of the Boudreaux family, there were times—like now—when he knew he wasn’t blood. If it were Brandon and Poppy’s baby on the way, he’d be there, because Brandon was like a brother, even after all they’d been through over the ransom money. As long as Brandon wanted him there.
He wasn’t going to the hospital, and didn’t want to—except he wanted to be there with Jena. To see her face light up when the little tyke showed up. And her smile when her family was together and things were going well—that was priceless. Especially after the years of strain and acrimony over the way Hudson and Gloria behaved. First leaving NOLA right after Katrina, cutting their losses and turning their backs on the screaming need of the devastated city. Then being complete assholes to Sonja once she and Henry became an item. As far as Hudson was concerned, it was fine for Sonja to work at the Boudreaux law firm, but marrying into the family as an African-American was another thing altogether.
Had been. Hudson and Gloria had to come up against losing all three of their children because of their racism before they finally cracked and saw the light. Now they were cleaning up their mess, and it was a big, hot one. Jeb stayed out of it all, grateful that the Boudreauxes had taken him in, fed him, invited him on so many family trips. It had truly changed his life as a kid; without them, he wouldn’t have known what summer vacation could be. His mother hadn’t sobered up until he went to college, so he owed the Boudreauxes a huge debt of gratitude. But not for their bigotry—he had no doubt that if he’d been a kid of color, his presence would have been tolerated, not welcome.
Out of respect, he made sure the veranda was neat, with no evidence of he or Jena having been there. Once in his car, he didn’t let his mind wander to the what-ifs or his time spent with Jena. Instead, he focused on the way she’d opened up to him today, no sex involved.
One thing with Jena: It was never predictable.
* * * *
Jena walked in to the maternity ward and immediately sensed the tingle of excited anticipation. Several groups of families were gathered in various spots. In the lounge area, in front of labor and delivery rooms, at the nurses’ station. She knew which room to find her family in thanks to a text from Brandon. Spying Poppy as she leaned against a wall, she walked up to her.
“Hey!” Poppy’s eyes widened at Jena’s greeting and they embraced, two women with no idea of what Sonja was going through since they didn’t have children. “How is she doing?”
Poppy sniffled, and Jena noticed the tears in her eyes. “It’s been a long day. It looked like the baby might come quickly, because of the intensity of her contractions. But her uterus wasn’t talking to her cervix, apparently, because she’s not dilating at a good enough rate. They’ve induced her with a drug, and she’s in so much pain!”
Jena knew Poppy and Sonja were BFFs from college, and she placed her hand on Poppy’s shoulder. “It has to be hell to see your friend going through that.”
Poppy nodded. “It is. I came out here to give her some space, to be with Henry. Brandon’s off getting coffee for everyone, and your parents are in the cafeteria.”
Jena looked at her watch. Dinnertime. Between her swim, her talk with Jeb, and her drive back, she’d lost the afternoon. “Why don’t you go get a bite to eat? I can wait here, and I’ll text you as soon as you need to be here again.”
Poppy nodded. “That’d be great. Thanks, Jena.”
“No problem.”
Jena hadn’t thought about what she might encounter, showing up for the delivery, until this very moment. She’d seen her colleagues through life and death situations, performed trauma first aid on agents shot with lethal weapons. Those agents were still alive—a major feat for the ones shot with automatic assault rifles, the weapon of choice for many illegal organizations and nations. How hard could helping Sonja have a baby be? Besides, Jena was only the auntie. She didn’t have to see anything that would embarrass Sonja—she was here to offer her support.
The butterflies in her stomach were left over from her talk with Jeb, for sure.
She walked into the hospital room to see Henry, her usually calm and in-charge elder brother, bent over at Sonja’s side, holding her hand and looking into her eyes like an Olympic coach giving last instructions to his favored athlete.
“You’ve got this, babe. I’m right here. You’re not alone.”
“Get the hell out of my face!” Sonja’s beautiful features contorted in a mix of rage and pain as she panted through a contraction. If they were two strangers, Jena could stay detached and even see the humor in it. But this was her brother and the woman he loved. And she loved her soon-to-be sister-in-law, too. Henry and Sonja weren’t legally married yet, but they were closer than any couple she’d ever seen, except maybe Brandon and
Poppy.
A painful twist in her gut threatened to draw her deep into her pile of regrets that led to her being single with no prospect of a life partner. If she’d never taken the job with the CIA…
No. This wasn’t about her, or Jeb. It was about the new baby coming into the Boudreaux family.
She had a split second to back out of the room unseen, but running had never been her style. Henry must have felt her sisterly stare, because he looked up and gave her a huge smile.
“Hey, sis. We’re getting ready to have a baby!” She thought her brother was on thin ice but went along with his forced positivity. Except it wasn’t forced—Henry was tired, sure, but also very excited.
“Come join the party, Jena.” Now that the contraction had passed, Sonja looked like the cool, self-possessed attorney that she was. With a huge bump on her belly, covered by a sheet. The room echoed with the sound of a heartbeat, and Jena assumed it was the baby’s, as it was too high to be an adult’s.
“Look at you two!” She walked over and kissed Sonja’s forehead, careful to not bump the bed. She knew from firsthand experience that when you were in pain, any slight jostling could be excruciating.
“You’re as beautiful as ever, Sonja.”
“Stop. I feel like a stuck pig. I need this child out of me, yesterday. Oh, boy.” She grimaced, and Jena looked at her hand as it clenched Henry’s.
“Come on, babe. Relax your face, breathe like we’ve practiced. You’ve got it. I’ll count.”
“Don’t fucking count!” Sonja’s voice was amazingly strong and deep for a woman in so much discomfort. Jena thought about making a joke about Sonja’s ability to spin her head in a full circle, but squashed it.
As Sonja’s contraction eased and she once again became her serene self, Jena looked at Henry. “What can I do?”
“Make sure Mom and Dad are kept busy.”
Sonja turned to her, eyes beseeching. “Yes, please, Jena. I want your folks to feel as much a part of this as possible, but I do not want them walking in on the delivery and seeing my whole self displayed.”
Jena laughed. “I hear you. Okay, well, I’ll go find them, and we’ll wait to hear when the baby arrives.” She walked around the bed and gave Henry a quick hug, but he was less than his usual warm self, his attention totally on Sonja.
As she left the room, a nurse entered, and she heard her ask Sonja how she was doing.
Her intensive first aid training with the CIA had prepped her for more than saving agents injured in the line of duty. She’d been able to read the room, figure out that while she wasn’t needed right at the delivery, she was needed to help keep the family together while they waited for the first Boudreaux grandchild to appear. A sense of belonging enveloped her. This was why she’d come back, why she’d had the pull in her gut that had told her to let go of the CIA work and return full time to NOLA.
“Mom, Dad.” She slid into the seat across from them in the cafeteria. “Anything good here?”
Gloria clenched her coffee cup. “I had the broiled catfish. It was good.”
Jena groaned, as did her father. “Mom, that’s awful! If you’re going to have catfish, have it the right way.”
Hudson grinned. “They have it fried, along with some damn good hush puppies, over there.” He pointed to the quick-order counter. “I’m buying, honey. Help yourself to whatever you want.”
“I’m good, Dad, thanks.”
“We’re sorry we didn’t text you. We were so excited to get the text this morning, and then we were in a hurry to get out of our house.” Gloria always did the explaining for both of them.
“It’s fine. You had a long drive here.” She had no doubt they’d driven the seventy miles in record time, as her father had a lead foot.
Gloria tilted her head. “Your hair’s a mess. Did you go swimming?”
“You know me well, Mother. Yes, I took a quick dip. Your flowers look stunning this year, by the way.”
“Was Jeb there, too? We forgot to tell him we left early as well.” Hudson spoke without the usual tone of self-righteousness he’d taken on after they left NOLA, after Katrina.
“He did show up, yes. But he’s not coming here, I’m sure.”
Gloria sipped her drink. “It feels like he should be here. He’s been part of the family since forever. Remember how darling he looked when Brandon brought him over for dinner that first time?” She smiled at her husband.
“I do.” He turned to Jena. “Honey, I want to clear the air between us. About Jeb.”
Oh, fuck. He was going to bring up the hallway incident. Judging from the concerned look on Gloria’s face, he’d already told her. Double fuck.
“Dad, stop. It’s not what you think.”
“I’m not thinking anything, sugar plum.” Sugar plum? He really had made a complete life turnaround. Not only had Hudson dumped his bigoted, racist ways, he’d resorted to calling her by her childhood endearment. She’d hold out on giving either of her parents a pass, though. It took a long time to turn a huge ship around, no matter the captain’s intention.
“Dad. Mom. Today’s about Henry and Sonja, and your very first grandchild.”
Hudson nodded once. “Yes, it is, Jena. It’s about family.”
“Spit it out, Hudson.” Gloria’s exasperation appeared fueled by her impatience for said grandchild to make his or her appearance. Henry and Sonja had kept them all in the dark about the sex of the baby, said they wanted everyone to have a surprise to look forward to.
“I’m getting there, Gloria.” Hudson patted his wife’s hand before he turned his focus back on Jena. “We want you to know that if you and Jeb were ever to, ah, get hooked together—is that how you say it nowadays?—we’re cool with it. Jeb’s part of the family, yes, but he’s not your real brother, and there’d be nothing wrong with it. Not as far as we’re concerned.”
Dread, cold and heavy, filled her stomach. Were they trying to say they wanted her and Jeb to be together?
“Honey, are you okay?” Gloria’s eyes appraised her and Jena swallowed, her throat dry.
“Okay, Mom and Dad, let’s get something straight. For the record? I don’t need your approval to date anyone. You know me well enough to know I’m going to see whoever I want to, right? As for Jeb—he helped get me out of a tight spot recently, with my Navy job, but it was as a friend. We’re not anything more.”
Hudson and Gloria exchanged The Look. The one all parents on the planet share. The she-thinks-we-were-never-young look.
“Mom. Please. Stop it.”
“Honey, I wasn’t born yesterday. You come in here in your little sundress, your hair wet, the dress inside out, a spark in your eyes. You’re almost thirty, Jena, and you’ve done nothing but dedicate your life to service. It’s about time you did something for yourself.”
“Your mother’s right. Don’t ever let anyone’s opinion, including ours, stop you from your deepest desire.” Hudson sounded like a damned preacher.
She looked down at her dress. Sure as shit, it was inside out. Poppy hadn’t noticed, or had ignored it. Henry and Sonja had bigger things going on than to notice her dress was on wrong.
“You two have only seen me twice since I got back. My dress is inside out because I was in a hurry to get back down here. It’s hot as hell out, and I didn’t care about how it looked, frankly. I just had to get dressed. And if there’s a spark in my eye, it’s because I’m living my dream. I have The Refuge to set up and run. Not everyone wants to hook up and start a family.”
Gloria opened her mouth to speak, but Jena’s phone pinged. She grabbed it off the table, grateful for any escape from this new, touchy-feely side of her parents. She was happier than anyone that they’d finally dragged themselves into the twenty-first century and the wide, open world of unprejudiced living. But that didn’t mean she had to sit here and take romantic advice from them.<
br />
“It’s from Brandon. The baby’s almost here.”
Gloria shrieked, and Hudson stood up so fast he knocked his iced tea over.
Jena bit back a smirk, making a mental note to someday thank her niece or nephew for saving her from the Boudreaux inquisition.
“He’s beautiful!” Poppy cooed in Jena’s ear as she held her newborn nephew. Jena, for her part, couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat. Tears of joy trickled down her cheeks as she looked at the sweet little boy.
“He’s huge.” Sonja spoke up, and Jena exchanged a glance with Henry. It’d been a very long day for Sonja, and it was time for everyone to clear out. Jena was on it.
“I’ll see you later, nephew.” She kissed William Hudson Boudreaux on his sweet little forehead before she handed him back to Henry. “You two look like you could use some rest. I’ll be back whenever you want, otherwise I’ll stop over at your place when you give me the all-clear.” She kissed Sonja and Henry goodbye and hugged Poppy.
“Thanks for coming in, sis.” Henry seemed like he’d get emotional all over again, but the exhaustion was catching up with him.
“Are you kidding? This is what it’s all about. Bye!” She turned on her heel and bolted for the door, before the tears of emotions she hadn’t begun to untangle ran down her cheeks again.
Gloria, Hudson, and Brandon stood just outside the door. They’d all agreed that they wouldn’t have more than two people in there at a time, to keep it manageable for Sonja.
“You headed home?” Brandon looked as slammed by the reality of another Boudreaux generation as she did.
“Yeah. I have to work in six hours.” They all laughed, and Hudson shook his head.
